Chasing A Hurricane
by Pixie Lala XOXO
Summary: Life seems almost perfect for The Flock. But a note found in the tunnels warns the residents of an impending plague, meant to wipe out The Flock and their friends. With a baby on the way and a new romance for Dylan, could this disaster destroy their only chances for happiness? Why is everyone acting so strangely? Sequel to After The Storm. FAX
1. Chapter 1

Like I said, this is a sequel so it might not make much sense if you haven't read After The Storm.I tried to add more romance so hopefully it works. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does.

.oO0Oo.

Aren't weddings supposed to be peaceful? Mine wasn't.

"Tired?" Fang asked, undoing his tie and coming to sit beside me on our bed.

"Exhausted, " I replied, flopping down onto my stomach and resting my chin on my folded fingers.

"You know," Fang's voice was suddenly in my ear. "We could always do what normal couples do on their wedding nights."

I flipped over and laughed lightly. "But we're not a normal couple."

Fang shrugged and pressed his lips against mine, lowering himself over me. I kissed him back, wrapping my forearms around his neck and tugging slightly at his soft, black hair. We broke apart to catch our breath.

"See?" Fang twisted some of my hair in his fingers. "You don't have to be normal to do that."

I smiled and kissed him again. This time, it was a while before we broke apart.

When I woke up there was a steady stream of sunlight trailing in from the open window of the treehouse. My head was resting on Fang's chest; our legs were intertwined. I sighed and settled into the bed.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

Fang wasn't breathing. He wasn't moving either.

"Fang!" I put my hands on his shoulders and shook him slightly. "Fang, wake up, please!" a sob worked it's way out of my chest. "Wake up, Fang!"

Then everything went black and I was falling.

"Max," a voice was calling me. "Max, wake up."

.oO0Oo.

I woke up to find Angel's face about three inches from mine.

"Are you okay?" Angel asked. Her blue eyes glinted with concern. "You were crying. And yelling," she crawled off of me and sat at the edge of my bed, crossing her legs.

Sitting up, I pushed the blankets down to my waist and pulled at the strap of my tank-top. "Yeah. I'm fine," Night terrors. That was the only explanation for the recurring and terrifying dreams I had been having. Mom said they were common with pregnancy. But they seemed so real.

They all had the same theme. Someone close to me, usually Fang, would be hurt, dying, or dead. And then I would black out. Everything would be over before I remembered it. I shivered and tried to shake off the spooky feelings I was getting. "What's up, sweetie?"

Angel grinned and hugged me. "Come on in, everyone!"

Without warning, a huge group of chattering people entered my room with boxes of items I wasn't sure I was going to like.

"Happy wedding day!" Nudge dropped the box she was carrying onto the bed a twirled.

"Aww, thanks," I smiled but winced when the baby kicked.

Angel shot me another concerned look but I brushed it off as I slid out of bed and hugged Dr. M.

"Okay," Ella said. "We have two hours until you have to be ready. Let's get started!" she held up her clipboard and grinned.

'Getting ready' consisted of Nudge painting my toenails and fingernails, Ella curling my hair and pinning it up in a gravity-defying pile of ringlets, and my mom helping Angel put my makeup on.

Almost two hours later, I was pretty much all ready. Yet, I was still in my pajamas.

"As you know," my mom began. "There is a large amount of clothing in storage back at the took a while but-"

"We found you a dress!" Ella exclaimed.

I put my head in my hands. "A wedding dress?" I muttered between my fingers.

"Trust me. You'll like this one. Because this one," Nudge took one of the dresses out of the box and unfolded it. "Does this."

The sound of buttons unsnapping filled the small space as Nudge pulled the bottom of the dress off. It was not that much shorter, just less poofy, frilly, and sparkly.

I smiled. "That might actually work."

.oO0Oo.

A swift but calm breeze drifted across the beach, rustling the flower petals that lined the aisle. The sand was warm under my feet as I approached the fabric that ran between the two clusters of chairs. Angel, Nudge, and Ella walked in front of me, accompanied by Iggy and Gazzy. I saw Fang when I finally reached the aisle. He smiled, the crooked Fang-smile that I had fallen in love with.

The walk to the end of the aisle seemed to take forever. When I reached the altar, Dylan waited a few moments before proceeding with his speech.

"You look beautiful," Fang whispered.

Dylan cleared his throat. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Max and Fang."

I'm not quite sure what Dylan said after that because staring into Fang's eyes was making my brain go all fuzzy. We decided to just go with traditional vows because I wasn't too keen on public speaking and I was sure Fang would rather not speak at all.

After we said our 'I do's and kissed in front of practically the whole island, making my mom go red, we all headed off to Nudge's treehouse for the reception. I had left all the planning to her so I was hoping it would be at least... tasteful.

.oO0Oo.

The reception was amazing. Nudge's treehouse was decorated with simple blue and white balloons, nothing too flashy. There was food, lots of it, and a table with punch, various soft drinks, and a small section with alcoholic drinks.

"That's not wine, is it?" Fang murmured in my ear as he stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I'm not a little kid," I said, craning my neck to kiss him. "I know what I can and can't drink. This is ginger ale, if you were wondering."

Fang smirked. "I know. I'm just making sure the baby," he flicked his thumb up over my practically flat stomach. "Is safe."

Everything was in order. Everyone was safe. Life was pretty much perfect. Little did I know, things were about to get a lot less happy.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note:

I guess I should have cleared something up earlier. This story is set around a month after After The Storm. So think of the epilogue to that as more of a possibility. Hope that clears things up.!

Sorry for the inconvenience as well. I never thought I would write a sequel so I assumed the epilogue would count as the end. That's why Charlottle isn't in it... yet.

Enjoy!

.oO0Oo.

Ella had promised that my wedding night would be romantic and she definitely wasn't kidding.

When Fang and I got to our 'honeymoon suite', an extra treehouse we had built after we found everyone in the tunnels along with new ones for all the member of The Flock, it looked like Cupid had exploded all over the whole darn room. There were flower petals everywhere. That wasn't completely horrible. But the giant heart made out of red tissue paper laying across the bed was definitely killing the mood. Ten minutes later, Fang and I had both changed into the clothes Nudge had left in the dresser for us.

I was sitting on the bed, wearing a tank top and shorts, busying myself with disassembling the big tissue paper heart when Fang walked out of the bathroom.

"It seems she forgot to leave me a shirt," he declared.

Laughing, I got up and pulled him onto the bed with me. He kissed me.

"But I assume I wouldn't really need one anyway," Fang smiled.

.oO0Oo.

"Are you sure," Fang muttered, planting a trail of kisses down the side of my mouth and down my neck. "that your mom is okay with us doing this in, well, the guest room?"

I laughed and pulled at his hair slightly. "They wouldn't be calling it the honeymoon suite if they didn't expect this."

Fang paused. "Good point," he smiled and kissed me on the lips.

The panic started for me when his fingers reached my hip and began tugging at the hem of my shirt. My breath hitched in my throat as flashbacks from my dream the night before hit me again. Fang noticed and immediately pulled back.

"What's wrong?" he looked at me quizzically and shifted his position so that his weight was no longer on me. "Is it the baby?"

"No, it's not," I mumbled. Still, Fang brought one of his hands up to lay flat across my torso.

"What is it then?" he had become super protective in the past few weeks; I wasn't sure why.

I pushed myself into a sitting position and levelled my gaze with his. "I've been having nightmares. About people..." I hesitated. "Dying. People like you, my mom-"

My list was cut short when Fang pulled me into a hug. I only saw how worried he looked when I pulled away.

"You know what?" I said, looking down so he couldn't tell I was lying. "I'm fine. They're just dreams."

Fang's gaze still held some concern. "You're sure? You just told me you had dreams about me dying."

I nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. They're just dreams," I repeated and linked my fingers together behind his neck. "Now, where were we?"

.oO0Oo.

Fang and I found ourselves in my mom's office two days later. She said she had some news to discuss with us.

"Some interesting things came up in your most recent blood samples," Dr. M said.

"It's not serious, is it?" Fang asked, worry seeping into his words.

My mom stood up from behind her makeshift desk of boxes. "No, Fang. It's nothing too alarming."

"Then what is it?" Fang asked.

A silence hung in the room as my mom looked through the small box of medical files that she kept in a box near her desk. When she sat back down she had a cream coloured folder labeled 'Maximum Ride'. "These are the test results," she said, passing a sheet of paper to me.

A string of numbers and codes that I didn't understand were scrawled across the page. I didn't understand any of them so I looked at my mom for clarification.

"You seem to have a vitamin deficiency," my mom explained. "One of the other doctors helped me determine that. Which, coupled with the stress you've been under lately with the wedding, explains your lack of weight gain."

I felt Fang release I sigh from his spot beside me on the small couch.

"So how do we fix it?" asked Fang.

"Well, I can give her some vitamins for it. That will help," replied my mom, giving me a reassuring glance. "Don't worry, it's rare, but some women don't gain much weight until the last few months before the baby is born. Judging by your scans, you've still got around three months so that's a fair amount of time for things to start changing."

We got the vitamins from her, thanked her, and left. When we got home, everyone had gone out flying. I wanted to go too but Fang insisted I needed to rest. I figured Fang was the one who needed the nap but I complied.

.oO0Oo.

"Do you ever think about what we could name the baby?" I yawned, waking up from my nap.

Fang was seated in the rocking chair on the other side of the room with his eyes shut but he responded quickly. "Of course I do."

"I do too," I said, sitting up. "Do you remember that article you showed me? Like, almost two years ago when we had that laptop from Itex?"

Fang raised his eyebrows.

"The one about the craziest baby names?"

Fang suddenly looked pale and his eyes flew open. "You don't plan on following in their footsteps, do you?"

I laughed. "No. I'm just thinking of names we should try to avoid."

"Like?" Fang smiled at me, amused.

"Sam, Kate, Star, Jeb Jr, Maya."

"Jeb Jr? For a girl?"

I shushed him. "Yeah. Because that'd be weird in too many ways."

"Agreed," Fang sat there quietly for a while. Then: "What about Charlotte?"

"Charlotte?"

Fang nodded. "It's... Feminine. But you could also call her Charlie, for short."

"Maybe," I said, nodding. It seemed a bit girly for my tastes but Fang did have a point. "We can add it to our list."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, James Patterson does.

.oO0Oo.

I woke up the next morning to a sudden wave of nausea. The morning sickness had stopped for the most part but I still got the occasional feeling of queasiness.

"What's wrong?" Fang rolled over and faced me. "Nightmares?"

"No," that was a lie. I'd had a nightmare, a particularly chilling one.

I'd been alone in a white room with blindingly bright lights above me. There was a speaker above me and a staticky voice erupted from it. It was Angel, calling for help. Then the voice faded to my mom's. It cycled through a few more people, ending on Jeb, and then the static cut to silence. The lights flickered off and the cool breeze rustled my hair, carrying a metallic scent. When the lights turned on I found myself standing in the centre of a feild. Bodies of the people I heard over the speaker were littered in a circle around me, all with the same ribbon-like cuts that trailed the lengths of their arms. Then, like every other recent nightmare, I was falling into blackness.

"We're all supposed to have breakfast in the tunnels," I said.

Fang stared at me. "Okay. As long as you're okay."

.oO0Oo.

We arrived at the dining hall just in time to inhale multiple stacks of pancakes, a few plates of bacon, and half a platter of fruit. Everyone was scattered around the tables chatting when Nudge ran in.

"I found something!" she said, screeching to a halt beside me.

"What is it?" I asked, leaning over her shoulder.

Nudge held up a small brown package, tied with a strip of cloth. It had a label on it. _To: Maximum Ride._

"It's for me," I said, confusedly.

"Open it," Gazzy said.

Fang squeezed my hand.

I tugged at the cloth and it fell free, fluttering down to rest at my feet. The brown paper came away just as easily to reveal what was inside. The package came in two parts, a letter and a small wooden box. Grabbing the letter, I slid the box across the table and stepped away from the group.

I unfolded the paper and stared down at the words.

_Maximum,_

_Greetings, Max. As you probably haven't noticed, I have been studying you for a while. I know what you're wondering. 'Dr. Hans is here?'_

He took the words right out of my mouth. I shuddered at the thought and continued reading.

_Yes, I'm here. But enough about me, let's talk about you. You may have turned down my... Suggestion, about you and Dylan but it seems that didn't mean Fang was out of the picture, hmm?_

My head started to feel fuzzy and clouded so I sat down, trying to shake the cold feeling from my shoulders. Dr. Hans was dead. At least that's what we'd assumed.

_I'd like to make you an offer. I'm sure you're aware of how important Fang's DNA is. If it has been passed on to your child you may be carrying one of the most important beings of our century. Plus, if your child also has mutations similar to that of its parents, I may be able to develop a way to give humans these abilities as well as making them immortal._

I covered my mouth with my hand.

_What I'm proposing is this: You would come to my office, a location I shall not reveal until the time is right, for weekly visits where I would monitor the baby. Once the baby is born you would allow me to... Take him or her off your hands. No worries, the child will be perfectly safe with me. Your answer, as you are reading this, may be 'no'. But I have something that may sway your decision._

_I have created a virus similar to the one that was originally meant to wipe out the human race. This one however, works particularly well on hybrids. It causes can comas, seizures, and heart attacks but that isn't the point. The point is that I plan on infecting the entire island with it in a week's time. Unless, of course, you take me up on my offer._

_Tomorrow at noon, come alone to the cliff on the west end on the island. I repeat, _come alone._ You can tell me your answer to my proposition there. I hope to see you soon, Maximum._

_- Hans Gunther-Hagen_

My thoughts all seemed to tumble off a metaphorical cliff at that point and I immediately crinkled up the letter, moving robotically away from the group and toward the trashcan where I was hoping to dispose of the letter.

"Max," I heard Fang say my name. I kept walking. He repeated himself around three more times before catching up to me and grabbing my wrist, stopping me in my tracks.

"It's nothing," I answered him before he even had a chance to ask.

"Nice try," he muttered, gently taking the crinkled paper from my hands.

I tried to stop him. "Fang, no!"

It was too late, obviously. Fang began reading the letter, periodically glancing at me through his thick eyelashes. Despite the contents of the letter, he stayed unusually calm while reading it.

When he finished, he pursed his lips and gave me an unreadable look. "Wait here," he said in a tone as hard as steel.

"Why?" I asked.

"Please," he said, taking my hand and rubbing his thumb across the back of it.

I nodded reluctantly, releasing his hand and retreating back to the entrance of the room. My brain was short-circuiting. I couldn't think of anything besides where I was planting my feet on the ground. I slumped down and sat down against the wall, waiting for Fang.


End file.
